StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Jean Twenge, An Army of One: Me, Robert Thurman, Wisdom,Malcolm Gladwellthe power of context - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
English _: Section _ Date_ Assignment _ (Thurman, Twenge, and Gladwell) Name_ (Final Draft) Filling The World With Happiness "Greater in battle than the man who would conquer a thousand-thousand men,is he who would conquer just one — himself" - Gautam Buddha, Dhammapada, v…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.5% of users find it useful
Jean Twenge, An Army of One: Me, Robert Thurman, Wisdom,Malcolm Gladwellthe power of context
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Jean Twenge, An Army of One: Me, Robert Thurman, Wisdom,Malcolm Gladwellthe power of context"

Download file to see previous pages

Study of all these "Why" will yield only one reason for each and every actions and feelings in our life and that is, we are in constant pursuit of happiness. In different ways and from different perspectives, writers Robert Thurman, Malcolm Gladwell and Jean Twenge try to suggest paths towards a better and happy self or according to Thurman "selflessness" (461). They all in their own unique understanding of the words "happy" and "reality" try to suggest paths that will make this world a better place to live.

However, what is crucial to this understanding is the fact that peace should rest not only in this world but also within ourselves, inside our mind, to make this universe a real happy place. The pursuit of happiness becomes meaningless without a clear understanding of the word "happy" and the state of happiness. Oxford Advanced American Dictionary defines the word "happy" as "feeling or showing pleasure" and ergo, happiness is a state of mind that is pleased or satisfied. This satisfaction or pleasure in life can come from thousands of different things.

Different people can derive happiness from different actions or situations. While some might feel happy when praised at work, others might feel happy sitting on a couch and watching television. Some might find happiness in helping others, while some are happily oblivious. However, most of the time, happiness is related to some"thing" that is considered extrinsic and corporeal. This dependence on something external makes the state of happiness transient and thus unhappiness is born. It is the sense of deprivation, or alienation that makes people unhappy.

From childhood we are reared as a subject, Self, as mentioned by Jean Twenge in "An Army of One: Me" and everything surrounding us is object. It is this distance and disconnectedness between the subject and the object that makes us crave for it and eventually become happy or sad. The feeling of achievement boosts our Ego or Self and makes us feel happy as does failure to make us unhappy. If we ponder on these two words, we will find that we are constantly in a state of contest with others and within ourselves.

It is this contest that makes us unrest, gives birth to negativity and ultimately leads us to chaos. Robert Thurman in his essay "Wisdom," tries to provide a holistic view of happiness and proposes its readers to reach a state where their acquired happiness is not transient. He suggests finding happiness through the path of self-realization following the Buddhist philosophy of "selflessness" and "interconnectedness" of the whole universe. As suggested by Thurman, Buddhist psychology, unlike Western psychology, helps "somebody who feels they are somebody become nobody" (461).

Here it is important to understand that the state of being "nobody" does not bear a negative connotation. When we reach the state of "nobody" we essentially leave behind the idea of a concrete self. Thurman says, "you become the type of somebody who is over the idea of conceptually fixated and self-created "self" " (462). He calls it a "pseudo-self" (462) that is weak. In today's world, where tremendous amount of emphasis is put on who we are and on what we are, if we come to a realization that all we are is a constantly changing, permeable self that takes shape according to situation then we would be able to curb out all negative feeling within us for

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Jean Twenge, An Army of One: Me, Robert Thurman, Wisdom,Malcolm Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved de https://studentshare.org/english/1496713-jean-twenge-ypan-army-of-one-mey-robert-thurman
(Jean Twenge, An Army of One: Me, Robert Thurman, Wisdom,Malcolm Essay)
https://studentshare.org/english/1496713-jean-twenge-ypan-army-of-one-mey-robert-thurman.
“Jean Twenge, An Army of One: Me, Robert Thurman, Wisdom,Malcolm Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/english/1496713-jean-twenge-ypan-army-of-one-mey-robert-thurman.
  • Cited: 1 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Jean Twenge, An Army of One: Me, Robert Thurman, Wisdom,Malcolm Gladwellthe power of context

The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

This paper under the title "The Story of Success by malcolm gladwell" investigates the main problems of a book written by one of the most profound authors.... nbsp;  In his book, “The Story of Success”, malcolm gladwell tries to dismiss the belief of American individualism as the rationalization of what forms a successful person.... malcolm gladwell book, The Story of Success, is a book that directly but in a rather unique way has aspects of organizational behaviour concepts....
6 Pages (1500 words) Book Report/Review

Malcolm Gladwells 'Blink'

In simple terms, he is talking about the power of perception.... It is difficult not to agree with malcolm gladwell's conclusion in the assigned chapters of 'Blink.... Correlation and Calculation In the instances of both malcolm gladwell and Atul Gawande the risk factors are overwhelming and possible solutions depend on 'thin slicing' - filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables.... [malcolm gladwell]....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Gladwell, Malcolm

 This essay discusses the article the power of Thinking Without Thinking by Gladwell, Malcolm.... the power of Thinking Without Thinking by Gladwell, MalcolmSummaryHumans' conscious minds have extremely limited understanding of their tendency of make accurate judgments rapidly.... Blink: the power of Thinking Without Thinking.... nbsp;… gladwell has illustrated these points through discussion of numerous experiments....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

The Tipping Point by Gladwell Malcolm

These include The Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and also the power of the Context.... In the book "The Tipping Point" by gladwell Malcolm, a groundbreaking analysis of how trends get started in society becomes observed.... gladwell argues in the book that there exist a number of factors that play a vital role in every influential trend and the processes involved are similar (gladwell 15).... An idea cannot become a strong hit worldwide without the addition of influential people to enable sold the idea (gladwell 17)....
5 Pages (1250 words) Book Report/Review

Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath presentation

This literary context is applicable in commercial settings that malcolm gladwell's “David and Goliath” Presentation malcolm gladwell's “David and Goliath” Presentation Gladwell uses context to communicate his analysis of the biblical account of David by explaining how size is not the upper in a competitive or demanding situation.... Gladwell uses context to communicate his analysis of the biblical account of David by explaining how size is not the upper in a competitive or demanding situation....
1 Pages (250 words) Assignment

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

In the paper “Outliers by malcolm gladwell” the author analyzes Gladwell's common belief about outliers, namely that people called outliers are successful due to intelligence and talents they possess.... hellip; In Outliers, malcolm gladwell deconstructs the notion of success in order to define what factors actually influence it, and he does this through numerous examples of different people's success.... Outliers by malcolm gladwell In his book, Gladwell challenges the common belief about outliers, ly that people called outliers are successful due to intelligence and talents they possess....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

This book review "Outliers by malcolm gladwell" sheds some light on the chapter 'Rice Paddies and Math Tests' authored by malcolm gladwell in his book 'Outliers' published in the year 2008 that provides a succinct yet perfect description of the cultures.... hellip; He describes the case of Renee who finds out on her own that anything divided by zero is undefined....
1 Pages (250 words) Book Report/Review

The Plausibility of the Power of Context

The concept of the power of context is plausible as this paper "The Plausibility of the power of context" will prove using Gladwell's work as well as the two readings.... According to Gladwell, the power of context is an argument that bases decisions and actions on the environment in which they occur.... In his book the power of context, Gladwell advances one such theory based on the premise that one's immediate context is the primary determinant and guide to their actions and decisions....
5 Pages (1250 words) Assignment
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us